"This money goes to the EFF in hopes that America can one day again be a shining example of freedom, free of the DMCA and ACTA, and that private interest will never trump the ideas laid out in the constitution of privacy, ownership, and free speech," Hotz wrote on this blog. He also took this opportunity to get a few shots in at Sony.

While no one really won at the end of the litigation, Hotz seems ready to claim the upper hand due to the fact the PlayStation 3 remains open, and others continue to work on cracking the latest firmware. "At the end of the day, something I take comfort in. The PS3 got OWNED," Hotz wrote. "'Once the code works they'll never be able to take it away from us.'"

Hotz also claimed this case won't deter others from cracking Sony's hardware. "If you piss them off enough for them to pull out the legal team and their million dollar checkbook, worst thing that happens is you have to super swear to never do it again," he stated. That was the deal struck with Sony: while Hotz did not have to admit to doing anything wrong, he did have to promise to stop cracking Sony-owned hardware.

Somehow I doubt this is the last we'll hear from Hotz on this particular topic; this is the story that keeps on giving.

His comments following the blog post indicate his lawyer's have asked not to have their costs publicized, so it's hard to tell how much money was actually donated and how much was spent. The loss of transparency is disappointing, but, purely from personal opinion, I think he did good.

I've watched this case here on Ars for a while now and it really is sad that big companies can force an individual to stop tinkering with what should rightfully be their own property. I do take some satisfaction in knowing that I've stubbornly refused to purchase sony game consoles for years and I doubt this event will change my mind any time soon.

On a side note, did Microsoft ever go after anybody for all the custom firmware and software that was out there for the original Xbox?

Somehow it just doesn't feel like a victory for him, its made out to be one, but if he settled for not hacking their products, I'm not sure what kind of high moral ground he can claim in this instance.

Of course, he won. He won when they sued him. They chose the wrong target and they knew it. Hotz didn't destroy trophies or hack the PSN or even enable piracy. Sony realized going to court was going to draw unnecessary attention to their ineptitude at dealing with said issues and not actually stop anyone from doing it because none of that was Hotz's fault. Moreover, with the code already out there, it is only a matter of time before others are doing it more anonymously. Toss in the ability of Anonymous to cause interruptions in their network with apparent ease and how their target market is the gamer who is more likely to actually sympathize with a hacker being stepped on by a Corporate giant and you've got a whole lot of reasons to settle.

But when they settled and Hotz was given a warning essentially, well they lost. They won by not having their dirty laundry aired out in front of everybody, but they lost by not having someone to crucify. Honestly, I said from the beginning that instead of resisting this, they should have embraced it as an opportunity to create an open platform that Xbox 360 users (who lack PS3's) would eye with envy. Homebrew software is the future. It's what made the iOS app stores explode. It could do the same for any home console that allows it...

"On a side note, did Microsoft ever go after anybody for all the custom firmware and software that was out there for the original Xbox?"

Not sure on that, but there was a different issue there as the people releasing that software did it with a stolen/unauthorized dev kit, which in itself wasn't exactly legal. The code itself for those applications were legal and were distributed, it's just that most people couldn't compile it on their own.

I would be happier if major corporations who relocate their HQ's out of the US in order to dodge taxes, yet still use the US as their primary market, paid taxes in the US.

Not just taxes, but all kinds of other fees and stuff. I noticed this last year when I took a Cruise. The cruise ship was filled with Americans, but the cruise ship was registered in the Bahamas despite the company being HQ'd in California. And I don't think a single American worked on the ship...not that that would be bad in and of itself. It's nice to be someplace very international...except it wasn't international so much as Philippine, and you could tell they were doing it just for the cheap labor.

Of course, he won. He won when they sued him. They chose the wrong target and they knew it. Hotz didn't destroy trophies or hack the PSN or even enable piracy. Sony realized going to court was going to draw unnecessary attention to their ineptitude at dealing with said issues and not actually stop anyone from doing it because none of that was Hotz's fault. Moreover, with the code already out there, it is only a matter of time before others are doing it more anonymously. Toss in the ability of Anonymous to cause interruptions in their network with apparent ease and how their target market is the gamer who is more likely to actually sympathize with a hacker being stepped on by a Corporate giant and you've got a whole lot of reasons to settle.

But when they settled and Hotz was given a warning essentially, well they lost. They won by not having their dirty laundry aired out in front of everybody, but they lost by not having someone to crucify. Honestly, I said from the beginning that instead of resisting this, they should have embraced it as an opportunity to create an open platform that Xbox 360 users (who lack PS3's) would eye with envy. Homebrew software is the future. It's what made the iOS app stores explode. It could do the same for any home console that allows it...

CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE! We have a progressive free-thinker in asile 6. Call in "the team".

I would be happier if major corporations who relocate their HQ's out of the US in order to dodge taxes, yet still use the US as their primary market, paid taxes in the US.

Not just taxes, but all kinds of other fees and stuff. I noticed this last year when I took a Cruise. The cruise ship was filled with Americans, but the cruise ship was registered in the Bahamas despite the company being HQ'd in California. And I don't think a single American worked on the ship...not that that would be bad in and of itself. It's nice to be someplace very international...except it wasn't international so much as Philippine, and you could tell they were doing it just for the cheap labor.

Of course, he won. He won when they sued him. They chose the wrong target and they knew it. Hotz didn't destroy trophies or hack the PSN or even enable piracy. Sony realized going to court was going to draw unnecessary attention to their ineptitude at dealing with said issues and not actually stop anyone from doing it because none of that was Hotz's fault. Moreover, with the code already out there, it is only a matter of time before others are doing it more anonymously. Toss in the ability of Anonymous to cause interruptions in their network with apparent ease and how their target market is the gamer who is more likely to actually sympathize with a hacker being stepped on by a Corporate giant and you've got a whole lot of reasons to settle.

But when they settled and Hotz was given a warning essentially, well they lost. They won by not having their dirty laundry aired out in front of everybody, but they lost by not having someone to crucify. Honestly, I said from the beginning that instead of resisting this, they should have embraced it as an opportunity to create an open platform that Xbox 360 users (who lack PS3's) would eye with envy. Homebrew software is the future. It's what made the iOS app stores explode. It could do the same for any home console that allows it...

As much as I'd like to buy into the idea that by settling Sony lost, the truth of the matter is no ones eyes were opened by their actions. The people who already knew the sort of company Sony was, still know and weren't that surprised at their actions. The people who think Sony is their God still want to burn Hotz at the stake because "He's a pirate and a cheater." and no amount of education is going to fix that so long as their primary concern is whether or not they can play their shiny new game.

Hey, none of those facts allowed here. You can't have pesky things like that get in the way of their political ideology. You might accidentally prove that all those things they're outraged about aren't accurate.

Honestly, I said from the beginning that instead of resisting this, they should have embraced it as an opportunity to create an open platform that Xbox 360 users (who lack PS3's) would eye with envy. Homebrew software is the future. It's what made the iOS app stores explode. It could do the same for any home console that allows it...

Does no one else taste the sweet sweet irony in this statement? How open is the Apple App Store if your app has to be blessed by Apple to be able to run on an iOS device?

Also, glad to hear the money was donated properly. Definitely beats my EFF donation of like $2--using the allotment sliders during my humble indie bundle purchase. The guy definitely has a mouth, but he's also got talent. If he keeps good on his super-swear (and he should), and never touches Sony stuff again, I think it's Sony's loss more than his. They lost PR, lost an opportunity to make good with homebrew people (who are doing wonders for MS's Kinect platform, I might add), and ... well, just came out looking like an evil corporation (again).

You could at least count on Hotz not to be quiet about a hack, which gave Sony plenty of time to figure out defenses before anyone could do anything with the hacks. I can imagine not all hackers would be so open about their accomplishments.

Honestly, I said from the beginning that instead of resisting this, they should have embraced it as an opportunity to create an open platform that Xbox 360 users (who lack PS3's) would eye with envy. Homebrew software is the future. It's what made the iOS app stores explode. It could do the same for any home console that allows it...

Does no one else taste the sweet sweet irony in this statement? How open is the Apple App Store if your app has to be blessed by Apple to be able to run on an iOS device?

I would be happier if major corporations who relocate their HQ's out of the US in order to dodge taxes, yet still use the US as their primary market, paid taxes in the US.

Not just taxes, but all kinds of other fees and stuff. I noticed this last year when I took a Cruise. The cruise ship was filled with Americans, but the cruise ship was registered in the Bahamas despite the company being HQ'd in California. And I don't think a single American worked on the ship...not that that would be bad in and of itself. It's nice to be someplace very international...except it wasn't international so much as Philippine, and you could tell they were doing it just for the cheap labor.

My concern with all of the cases that have been dismissed (including this one) is the idea of ownership. This sentence spells the problem out clearly, "...he did have to promise to stop cracking Sony-owned hardware.". Sony-owned. Even though we purchase the device, put it in our home, use our bandwidth and our electricity and our display to make the thing worthwhile, it's still Sony's property inside the box.

Just imagine if [insert vehicle manufacturer] thought the same way. "Sorry, you have to use our expensive tires, because we won't allow you to modify the vehicle in any way". Ownership rights MUST be fought in court, and we really need to send the message loud and clear to these companies that once we purchase a device, they are transferring ownership to US.

And just to be clear, I'm not a zealot here. I firmly believe games should not be pirated, and I firmly believe in a company's right to protect their games (so long as they can't prevent me from running the game accidentally or on purpose). But the burden of protecting games falls on the publisher and not the hardware device. Breaking into the firmware of the PS3 is NOT equivalent to pirating a game, it's simply re-purposing the device.

Somehow it just doesn't feel like a victory for him, its made out to be one, but if he settled for not hacking their products, I'm not sure what kind of high moral ground he can claim in this instance.

Well, he did keep the court from possibly setting a negative precedent. While he is restricted from hacking future Sony products, that doesn't mean nobody else can. And he raised a bunch of money for EFF.

I still don't see this as a victory, though. It's a stalemate at best.

My concern with all of the cases that have been dismissed (including this one) is the idea of ownership. This sentence spells the problem out clearly, "...he did have to promise to stop cracking Sony-owned hardware.". Sony-owned. Even though we purchase the device, put it in our home, use our bandwidth and our electricity and our display to make the thing worthwhile, it's still Sony's property inside the box.

The thing is, this very lawsuit was the one that, if taken to verdict, would have (or at least, could have) settled whether the hardware is ours or Sony's. Until the outcome of a lawsuit says otherwise, there's no reason to believe that the First Sale Doctrine doesn't hold. It was sold to us as a purchase, it's ours to do with as we please, not Sony's. So the settlement, as worded, is like hitting a bear with nerf bat, and expecting it to fall over.

yeah I think $10,000 is a magic number in the U.S. for tax reasons and whatnot. I don't remember the specifics but there are many mentions of 10k in the tax code and just in banking in general.

10k is the limit where a bank or investor has to report the income to the feds, but unless Hotz or the EFF have started throwing in some RICO business I doubt this should matter much to either of them.

Somehow it just doesn't feel like a victory for him, its made out to be one, but if he settled for not hacking their products, I'm not sure what kind of high moral ground he can claim in this instance.

Well, he did keep the court from possibly setting a negative precedent. While he is restricted from hacking future Sony products, that doesn't mean nobody else can. And he raised a bunch of money for EFF.

I still don't see this as a victory, though. It's a stalemate at best.

I have had something to read at work that updates every few days with new content, plus an active board of feedback on each article.

Yeah... stalemate is probably the most appropriate description.... I'm glad to see the EFF got that money from him, but having looked over the actual legal settlement document (someone linked to the PDF file last week), It doesn't read of "victory" a bit. It reads of, "Sony invested in using their legal team to ensure a knowledgeable hacker is completely shut down from ever posing a threat to their products again."

I agree that "someone else will just pick up where he left off" and "you can't shut the barn door after the horses have already left and pretend that gets them back inside". That's why this is a stalemate and not a loss for GeoHotz. But ultimately, a lot of people held out hope that this case would result in a legal challenge to Sony's assertion that it's ok to lock down your platform so nobody can change it and THEN proceed to take away advertised features in mandatory system updates.

I would be happier if major corporations who relocate their HQ's out of the US in order to dodge taxes, yet still use the US as their primary market, paid taxes in the US.

Not just taxes, but all kinds of other fees and stuff. I noticed this last year when I took a Cruise. The cruise ship was filled with Americans, but the cruise ship was registered in the Bahamas despite the company being HQ'd in California. And I don't think a single American worked on the ship...not that that would be bad in and of itself. It's nice to be someplace very international...except it wasn't international so much as Philippine, and you could tell they were doing it just for the cheap labor.

Isn't this somewhat off topic given that Sony is a japanese company?

Wasn't it Sony who was arguing they were based out of California in the case?